Chester Finn, former United States Assistant Secretary of Education and education policy analyst at the Hoover Institution

Harvard Professor Paul Peterson and Former Assistant Secretary of
Education Chester Finn have been studying the American education system for a
long time. What they've observed is a disturbing trend.

"We had the greatest schools in the 19th century and
the early 20th century," said Peterson. "We had elementary education
before any other country. We had high schools before any other country. We
built colleges before any other country."

But in the 1970s, the momentum changed.

"We put our feet up in the air and relaxed, and the
rest of the world starting catching up to us," said Peterson.

American students - once the most competitive in the world, have fallen behind in key areas like literacy, math, and problem-solving, according to a new report from the OECD. Credit: James F. Clay / Flickr Creative Commons

A recent report on education from the OECD shows American
students have fallen behind in math, literacy, and problem solving. High school
graduation rates - another former strong point for American schools - have also
fallen behind.

Peterson and Finn lament that this complacency has
translated to a society that doesn't seem to take school that seriously.

"We don't take high school seriously because there are
no serious consequences for not doing well in high school," says Finn.
"We care about football and extracurriculars. In other countries, students
care about learning and graduating and getting in to college."

What can be done to boost flagging American schools?
Peterson looks to changing the credentials required for teachers so that more
of the best and brightest young graduates are attracted to the profession. Finn
also focuses on teachers, but approaches from a different angle. In recent
years, he says, there has been a trend to reduce the ratio of students to
teachers: at mid-century, that number was about 27:1; today it's 14:1.

Though counterintuitive, Finn argues that these lower ratios
have actually not improved the quality of education. By raising them back up,
teacher's salaries could be raised, attracting more competitive graduates to
the profession. "We need a superior cadre of able, knowledgeable people,
which a lot of other countries have concentrated on getting," says Finn.

To hear more from Peterson and Finn's diagnosis of the
American education system - including how race and class factor in to the
education divide - tune in to our full interview above.